What are your wintergreens doing?

[Neil]

Very nice Tony however it is Orchis mascula and Anacampitis morio

[Hans A.]

Some great plants and terrific pictures!

Here Ophrys incubacea

[glynnffc]

My first Ophrys are flowering nicely, but the leaves are going yellow and don't look well at all.
I k ow they soon shrivel after floering, but should they go this way while there are still buds to open?
Glynn

[SteveC2]

 Don't worry.  I have always believed that all the nutrients in the leaves are relocated to the tuber and flower spike leaving the rosette looking awful at flowering time.  After seeing the state of wild plants last week I am now convinced.

[glynnffc]

Thanks Steve,
I'e really enjoyed seeing your pictures, even though these plants are nice in pots they are even better in the wild.

[Steve Garvie]

Take me to your leader!

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis

I always think that they look like one of those creatures that drops from the ceiling onto the hero's head in the low-budget sci-fi movies of my youth. 
Where is Dr Who when you need him?
(Image taken with a Sigma 150mm 1:2.8 macro lens hand-held; 1/200sec, f9 at 1600iso in poor light)

[glynnffc]

Well I've just had to amend my must have list, and it was down to the hundreds.
Is this stunning plant as hard to grow as most books say?
Glynn

[Steve Garvie]

It's growable if you stick to some basic rules.

It needs an acidic open soil mix but too much in the way of organics encourages rot. The mix whilst moisture retentive has also got to have good drainage. These orchids have minimal root structures and so can't cope with excessive drying or heat stress.

I use a mix of perlite, Tesco low-dust premium lightweight cat-litter (the stuff that looks like Seramis) and Scots Pine needles to which I add some composted bark, a small amount of chopped living sphagnum moss and rotted down bracken (which is very acidic). The "bulb" sits on this mix (in plastic pots) and is then top dressed with Scots Pine Needles. My plants started the growing season (late Summer) under the bench in shade. The single tough heart-shaped leaf unfurls and grows fairly quickly through the Autumn. By late October I have the plants sitting in the alpine section of my greenhouse (well-ventilated) on the plunge bench in full light. They get full Winter sun exposure from then until early March when they again go under the bench.
I water quite frequently but only ever use rain water and never give any liquid feed. When exposed to full sun through the Winter the pots sit in a saucer containing about 1cm of rain water(changed frequently). Flowering is in March/April. With careful watering and shading at this time the leaf can be kept going for a bit longer adding further to the size of the pseudobulb. The plants go dormant in May at which time the pseudobulb should be kept in a cool position with a periodic light spray of rainwater to prevent drying out.

I have only grown these plants for one complete cycle myself and the above regime is my personal take on the advice I was given by the original grower who successfully vegetatively propagates his stock for limited sale. Both of my plants have produced large healthy-looking new bulbs and both are still in active growth. Unfortunately my second plant lost its flower spike to a slug! These plants are a delicacy for slugs and snails so make sure your soil mix contains no marauding molluscs and take all possible precautions to keep the slugs away!

Plants can be purchased from some of the larger continental (laboratory-raised) hardy orchid "houses" such as Albiflora.be.

Others on the forum grow Calypso and might be able to give you better advice than me.
Best of luck if you decide to try growing it!

[glynnffc]

Thanks for that Steve.
Although it sounds daunting, it would be  nice to have a go.The mix doesn't seem to contain any hard to get items
I saw some young plants offered on ebay recently, but I think I'll try and source something a bit more mature.
Thank again
Glynn

[SteveC2]

Glad I am not the only one who has found that slugs love Calypso flower spikes.  2 out of 2 lost for me this year.

[mark smyth]

Orchis italica are taking a long time to produce flower spikes

A yellow Ophrys in the greenhouse. It's labelled but I've forgotten which it is. I'll edit the post tomorrow

[Tony Willis]

Steve

beautiful calypso.

I grow mine in some pine duff I got from under a friends pine mixed with about 50 % sharp sand and water with tap water. They grow quite well although still about a month of flowering. I have had them three years and flowering times have varied from 1st to 22nd of April. Last year two split and formed a new off set bulb. Like others say slugs are the major problem

[Steve Garvie]

Steve

beautiful calypso.

I grow mine in some pine duff I got from under a friends pine mixed with about 50 % sharp sand and water with tap water. They grow quite well although still about a month of flowering. I have had them three years and flowering times have varied from 1st to 22nd of April. Last year two split and formed a new off set bulb. Like others say slugs are the major problem

Good to hear that they cope well with tap water!
Hopefully I can keep mine going long term.

This is not a challenge to those slugs out there that are reading this! 

[Neil]

A few from me,  been a bit lax in the photographing them this year

 Anancamptis papilionacea




Ophrys bertolonii




Ophrys kotschyi subsp ariadnee




Ophrys lutea subsp galilaea.  Sorry for the poor quality had great difficulty photographing it as it has very small flowers less than 10mm across.

[Tony Willis]

Neil the kotschyi is beautiful

Some of mine

orchis pauciflora
Orchis anatolica
Ophrys speculum
ophrys sp. (I cannot identify this but think it might be a form of spegodes)